57 SAD Air Base attack

The 57 SAD Air Base attack occurred on 22 June 1941 at the start of Operation Barbarossa, when the German Luftwaffe launched surprise attacks on Soviet air bases. Wolfram von Richthofen's VIII Fliegerkorps, based at Goldap in East Prussia, assaulted the Soviet Air Force base at Vilnius in the Lithuanian SSR, destroying 31 fighters with a loss of 4 fighters.

The second wave involved 116 Luftwaffe fighters and 50 bombers. The Germans succeeded in destroying 50 more Soviet fighters at the airbase. A third wave destroyed 35 fighters and 18 bombers with a loss of just one German bomber. The three strikes destroyed the Soviets' air defense capabilities in Lithuania.